Austin

Allen

This one certainly qualifies as a surprise since Lucchesi was considered a potential candidate to replace an injured Kodai Senga (shoulder) in New York’s season-opening rotation. The 30-year-old southpaw allowed four runs over 1 1/3 innings this spring in his lone Grapefruit League appearance.

Allen’s tour of the NL East continues after spending last year with the Marlins at Triple-A Jacksonville. The 30-year-old backstop got into five contests for the Athletics during the 2022 campaign. He’s merely emergency catching depth at this stage of his career.

Allen got into just five contests last year for the Athletics and has hit .195/.252/.288 with two homers in 127 plate appearances in the majors since 2019. The 28-year-old backstop will likely open the 2023 season as emergency catching depth for the Marlins at Triple-A Jacksonville.

Allen, who was removed from Oakland’s 40-man roster back in May, will head to Triple-A Memphis as extra catching depth for the Cardinals after the team shipped veteran backstop Austin Romine to the Reds at the trade deadline.

Allen went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment last week and will remain with the Athletics as organizational catching depth. The 28-year-old backstop holds an underwhelming .195/.252/.288 triple-slash line with two homers in 127 plate appearances in the majors since 2019.

The 28-year-old backstop struggled during his limited time with the Athletics, slashing a woeful .071/.188/.071 with one run scored and a 9/1 K/BB ratio over 16 plate appearances. There’s a good chance he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed and continue to function as catching depth for the A’s at Triple-A.

It appears to be a routine maintenance day for Murphy, who has started 20 consecutive games between catcher and designated hitter to open the 2022 campaign. The 27-year-old backstop is hitting .218/.262/.487 with 11 runs scored, four homers and 14 RBI across 84 plate appearances. He has just two hits in his last 20 at bats over the last week. Austin Allen will start behind the plate on Saturday afternoon.

Allen was only absent for a couple of days. He stands 1-for-6 to begin the 2022 season.

Allen had been on the restricted list as the A’s traveled to Toronto but is now on the COVID-19 IL as they return home.

It’s a move the team is able to make for unvaccinated players that are unable to travel to Canada. The A’s have a series in Toronto this weekend.